Posted on 02/24/2024 5:59:01 AM PST by SpeedyInTexas
Incredibly effective strike
SEAD in Crimea.
Kyiv Independent (1 Sept):
“Ukrainian Special Operations Forces destroyed the radar of a Russian S-300 air defense system at the Saky airfield in occupied Crimea over the weekend, the military reported on Sept. 1...
...The strike took place overnight on Aug. 30, with the Crimean Wind Telegram channel reporting explosions and a fire near the base the same day.
“As a result of the actions taken, the radar for the S-300 complex was destroyed at the military airfield in the village of Saky,” the Special Operations Forces said in a statement...
...The Saky airbase, located in western Crimea, is a key hub for Russian operations in the Black Sea. It previously served as a base for Ukrainian naval aviation before Russia’s occupation of Crimea in 2014.
Kyiv has stepped up strikes on Russian military assets in the occupied peninsula. Ukrainian military intelligence reported on Aug. 28 the destruction of a Russian 91N6E radar, part of the S-400 system.”
More GDPđ
The (former) President Zelenski of Ukraine is refusing any compromise in negotiations with Russia. He would be killed and replaced by a more right wing figure if he would consider otherwise.
In a speech on Sunday marking Ukraine's independence Zelenski insisted of recapturing all of Ukraine including Crimea.
As the Washington Post summarizes (archived):
In Kyiv on Sunday, Ukraineâs Independence Day, Zelensky addressed the nation and vowed to restore its territorial integrity.âUkraine will never again be forced in history to endure the shame that the Russians call a âcompromise,ââ he said. âWe need a just peace.â
He listed some of the regions occupied by Russia â including Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea â and said âno temporary occupationâ could change the fact that the land belongs to Ukraine.
Zelenski thus rejects calls by U.S. President Trump to give up Ukrainian territory in exchange for peace.
One reason why he does so may be the personal danger he is in. Any compromise about territory may well cost his life.
The London Times continues to make propaganda for Nazis. After a recent whitewashing interview with Azov Nazi leader Biletsky (archived) it yesterday published an interview with the former leader of the fascist Right Sector in Odessa Serhii Sterneneko.
âRussia has repeatedly tried to kill me â I must be doing something rightâ (archived)
Sterneneko had a leading role in the 2014 massacres in Maidan Square and at the Trade Union's House in Odessa. The Times is whitewashing his participation in those events. It does not mind to publish his threats against Zelenski:
[A]mong Ukraineâs younger generation of soldiers and civilians, Sternenkoâs brand of truth to power has wide popularity. âI say what I think, and people like what I say.âHis views on President Putinâs demand for Ukraine to cede the territory it defends in the eastern Donbas region as a precondition for possible peace are typically direct. âIf [President] Zelensky were to give any unconquered land away, he would be a corpse â politically, and then for real,â Sternenko said. âIt would be a bomb under our sovereignty. People would never accept it.â
Sternenko, who himself has avoided the draft, wants the war to go on forever:
Indeed, as he discussed Russian intransigence and President Trumpâs efforts to end the war, Sternenkoâs thoughts on the possibility of peace appeared to be absent of any compromise over Ukrainian soil.âAt the end there will only be one victor, Russia or Ukraine,â he said. âIf the Russian empire continues to exist in this present form then it will always want to expand. Compromise is impossible. The struggle will be eternal until the moment Russia leaves Ukrainian land.â
Other British media continue to promote the rise of Nazi affiliated figures in Ukraine. The Guardian adds by promoting the presidential campaign of the former Ukrainian general and now ambassador to the UK Valeri Zaluzhny:
In private conversations, Zaluzhnyi has not confirmed he plans to go into politics, but he has allowed himself to speculate on what kind of platform he could propose if he does make the decision. Those close to him say he sees Israel as a model, despite its current bloody actions in Gaza, viewing it as a small country surrounded by enemies and fully focused on defence.He would style himself as a tough, wartime leader who would promise âblood, sweat and tearsâ to the Ukrainian people in return for saving the nation, channelling Winston Churchill. In one private conversation, he said: âI donât know if the Ukrainian people will be ready for that, ready for these tough policies.â
A day before being fired as the commander of the Ukrainian army Zaluzhny took a selfie with the leader of the fascist Right Sector and commander of Right Sector brigade of Ukrainian military in front of a portrait of Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera and the fascist OUN flag.
The picture was already part of his campaign to become the leader of a Bandera-ized Ukraine.
It seems that the British deep-state does its best to support him in that.
https://x.com/Heroiam_Slava/status/1962561782079263202
“The US is pressuring Europe to stop all purchases of Russian oil and gas and impose secondary tariffs against India and China,”
Friday is the expiration of the two weeks that President Trump mentioned, that after which, he might have to do something different, with respect to resolving the war in Ukraine.
I guess it will be more of “stick” approach, reducing Russian oil revenues through secondary sanctions, and coordinating weapons supplies to Ukraine, that in turn will further reduce Russian oil revenues.
The EU is still discussing what their 19th package of sanctions, due later this month will entail. As you posted, the US Administration wants coordinated secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil, and for the EU itself to cut further purchases (notably Hungary and Slovakia).
The Europeans are also supposed to have a security guarantee proposal for Ukraine coordinated by this Friday.
“The US is pressuring Europe to stop all purchases of Russian oil and gas and impose secondary tariffs against India and China,”
Friday is the expiration of the two weeks that President Trump mentioned, that after which, he might have to do something different, with respect to resolving the war in Ukraine.
I guess it will be more of “stick” approach, reducing Russian oil revenues through secondary sanctions, and coordinating weapons supplies to Ukraine, that in turn will further reduce Russian oil revenues.
The EU is still discussing what their 19th package of sanctions, due later this month will entail. As you posted, the US Administration wants coordinated secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil, and for the EU itself to cut further purchases (notably Hungary and Slovakia).
The Europeans are also supposed to have a security guarantee proposal for Ukraine coordinated by this Friday.
“Tomorrow (27 August) is the day that additional 25% tariffs go into effect on Indian exports to the USA, to discourage their purchase of Russian blood oil. “
Trump didn’t chicken out.
2 weeks til bone crushing sanctions on RuZZia?
“2 weeks til bone crushing sanctions on RuZZia?”
A few days after the Alaska Summit, President Trump made the comment that he would know in a couple of weeks if Putin was serious about peace, and if not, he would take another approach. That will be this coming Friday (5 Sep).
It seems to me that he is now working to get to Europeans to commit to resource the security guarantees for Ukraine, and the really effective sanctions on Russian oil revenue.
The Europeans have a long history of providing grand lip service to doing their part, only to quietly back away when the bills actually come due (e.g. NATO Defense spending). I saw that first hand with the Bonn Accords to reconstruct Afghanistan. The Germans committed to stand up and train the National Police, but did little, and America had to rush in and resource that mission. I will give credit to the UK and Canada, who actually did pull triggers, and fulfill commitments, but most did not, and they have a long history of doing that, time after time. It takes some powerful incentives to get them to pony up.
If the US and EU both impose strong secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil, it would be profound in re-writing Russia’s calculations about the war. Also, if weapons are provided to Ukraine (ERAMs, Flamingo, assorted drones, Taurus) to Strategically disable Russia’s oil infrastructure.
It looks like strong actions are in the works, but getting the Europeans to operate at Trump speed and full power may be the long pole in the tent.
Kremlin officials continue to deny White House statements about the prospect of a bilateral Ukrainian-Russian or trilateral US-Ukrainian-Russian meeting in the near future. Russian Presidential Aide Yuriy Ushakov stated on September 1 that âthere was no agreementâ on a bilateral meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, or a trilateral meeting between US President Donald Trump, Zelensky, and Putin.[1] Ushakov stated on August 16, after the US-Russian Alaska summit, that he did not know when Trump and Putin would meet again and that the leaders had not discussed the prospect of a trilateral meeting.[2] US President Donald Trump stated on August 18, however, that he was planning a bilateral meeting between Zelensky and Putin with a subsequent meeting between Trump, Zelensky, and Putin.[3] Ushakovâs reiteration of Russia's refusal to commit to Trump's desired bilateral and trilateral meetings undermines Trump's ongoing diplomatic efforts to achieve a peace settlement in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to demonstrate his unwillingness to compromise on his unwavering demands for Ukraine's full capitulation. Putin claimed on September 1 at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin, People's Republic of China (PRC), that the âcrisisâ in Ukraine arose from the Western-provoked âcoupâ in Ukraine in 2014 (referring to Ukraine's democratically organized Revolution of Dignity), not âas a result of Russia's attack on Ukraine.â[4] Putin also claimed that the war in Ukraine stemmed from the West's constant attempts to bring Ukraine into NATO, which Putin claimed would pose a direct threat to Russian security. Putin claimed that the 2014 âcoupâ eliminated the political leadership of Ukraine that did not support Ukrainian membership in NATO. Putin claimed that peace in Ukraine can only be sustainable and long-term if the settlement eliminates the âroot causesâ of the war, which Kremlin officials have repeatedly defined as Ukraine's alleged discrimination against Russian-speakers in Ukraine and NATO expansion.[5] The Kremlin has often used this âroot causesâ narrative to call for the replacement of the current Ukrainian government with a Russian puppet government, Ukraine's commitment to neutrality, and the revocation of NATO's Open Door Policy.[6] Putin's claim that the 2014 âcoupâ âeliminatedâ Ukrainian leaders is also a reference to the Kremlin's repeated narrative that the current Ukrainian government is illegitimate and should not be in power.[7] Putin is reiterating these Kremlin narratives in his own voice, indicating that Putin maintains his original war goals.
The Kremlin likely timed the publication of a video address by former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to coincide with Putin's SCO speech in order to lend legitimacy to Putin's demand for regime change in Ukraine. Russian state media published a video message on September 1 of Yanukovych claiming that he worked to bring Ukraine closer to the EU during his presidency and that his ultimate goal was Ukraine's EU accession.[8] Yanukovych blamed Ukraine's EU partners for behaving âincorrectlyâ during Ukrainian-EU negotiations and criticized the EU for not understanding the difficulties of Ukraine's economic situation. Yanukovych also claimed that he has always opposed Ukraine's membership in NATO, which he alleged would have been a âcatastropheâ and âa direct road to civil war.â Yanukovychâs last public media appearance was in July 2022, when he called on Ukrainians to surrender to Russia.[9] The timing of the filming of Yanukovychâs video address is unknown, but he opened by stating that Putin âis absolutely correctâ â seemingly in response to Putin's remarks about Ukraine at the SCO summit, indicating this was likely a choreographed information effort. The publication of Yanukovychâs video on Russian state media was likely intentionally timed to coincide with Putin's remarks. The Kremlin may be setting conditions to claim that Yanukovych is the legitimate leader of Ukraine â not Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Such claims are false, however, as Yanukovych fled Ukraine on his own accord after the Revolution of Dignity, and Ukraine has held several democratic elections since.
Putin's demands for regime change in his SCO speech are not new, but rather the reiteration of his pre-war demands that he has been pursuing throughout the war. Putin referenced the alleged âcoupâ in both his 2021 âOn the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainiansâ essay and his speech launching the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.[10] Yanukovych was also notably in Belarus in March 2022, possibly as part of Kremlin efforts to reestablish him as the president of Ukraine.[11] Putin's reiteration of this same demand demonstrates how Putin's unwillingness to pull back from his original war aims is the key contributor to the lack of progress toward peace since the US-Russian summit in Alaska in August 2025.
Likely Russian GPS jamming affected a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on September 1. The Associated Press (AP) reported on September 1 that European Commission spokesperson Adrianna PodestĂ confirmed that a plane carrying von der Leyen suffered problems from GPS jamming while flying to Bulgaria and noted that Bulgarian authorities suspect âblatantâ Russian interference.[22] PodestĂ stated that von der Leyenâs plane landed safely at Plovdiv Airport in central Bulgaria after flying from Warsaw, Poland. The Financial Times (FT) reported on September 1 that the pilot flying von der Leyenâs plane landed the plane using paper maps, and a knowledgeable official source confirmed that GPS in the airport's vicinity âwent dark.â[23] Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority stated that there has been a notable increase in GPS jamming since February 2022 and that there have been issues with spoofing more recently. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed in response to a question from FT that their âinformation is incorrect.â[24] ISW previously observed reports that Russian electronic warfare (EW) interference significantly impacted flights in the Baltics, Poland, and Finland, particularly in early 2024.[25] Russia notably likely jammed the satellite signal of a Royal Air Force (RAF) jet transporting then-UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps, his staff, and select journalists back to the UK from Poland in March 2024.[26] The latest reports of likely Russian GPS jamming indicate that Russia is continuing its hybrid operations in Europe, and Russia could continue to target Western political and military officials as part of these operations. Von der Leyen has notably been leading discussions with European and US officials about possible European troop deployments as part of security guarantees for Ukraine after the war.[27]
Ukraine reportedly conducted its first strike with its domestically produced FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile on August 30 against occupied Crimea. Russian opposition outlet Astra reported on August 31 that Ukrainian forces conducted a Neptune missile strike against a Russian border post near occupied Voloshyne, Crimea, on August 30.[28] Sources in Ukraine's Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) told Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi on August 31 that Ukrainian forces used a Flamingo cruise missile â not a Neptune missile â to strike the Russian border post.[29] ISW previously reported on August 31 that Ukrainian forces conducted this strike with a Neptune missile based on available evidence at the time.[30] Astra amplified Militarnyiâs reporting on September 1.[31] The Associated Press (AP) reported on August 21 that Ukraine launched mass production of its new Flamingo cruise missiles, which have a range of up to three thousand kilometers and can carry warheads up to 1,150 kilograms.[32]
Ukrainian authorities reportedly collected new evidence of Chechen Republic Head Ramzan Kadyrov endorsing war crimes against Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs). The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) reported on September 1 that Kadyrov stated in a speech that he ordered Chechen military commanders to shoot Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield instead of taking them prisoner.[33] The SBU added that Kadyrov also ordered Chechen soldiers to place Ukrainian POWs on the roofs of military facilities in Grozny, Republic of Chechnya, to act as human shields against Ukrainian drone strikes. Kadyrovâs statements endorsing war crimes are in line with March 2025 claims by Chechen Akhmat Spetsnaz Commander Apty Alaudinov that Russian forces used the same color of identification tape as Ukrainian forces during a covert attack behind Ukrainian positions in Kursk Oblast, which may constitute acts of perfidy, a war crime under the Geneva Convention.[34] There has been a sharp increase in credible reports and footage of Russian forces executing Ukrainian POWs throughout 2024 and 2025, and ISW continues to assess that Russian military commanders are either complicit in or directly enabling their subordinates to conduct systemic executions in direct violation of international law.[35]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-september-1-2025
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